Seed saviour: I'm preserving our edible heirlooms

Diane Ott-Whealy started her seed bank to save her grandparents' prized seeds, but more than 13,000 varieties later it has taken on a life of its own.

Why did you start a seed exchange?My Grandpa Ott's parents emigrated to the US and took their best seeds with them. By the end of my grandpa's life, unless there was some system in place, those seeds would have been lost. I was not a trained botanist, but I knew to respect the seeds, stories, recipes and memories. I knew that lost genetic diversity could never be replaced. That's how the idea for Seed Savers started. I began it nearly 40 years ago with two seeds handed down to me from my grandparents.

What has motivated you to keep it going?In the early 1970s, changes in agriculture were threatening seed diversity. I grew up watching my parents use organic, sustainable farming practices on a 96-acre farm. Then I watched as these small family farms were bought out by large commercial operations, who tore down fences, planted hybrid seed and added chemical fertilisers. Planting huge acreages with a single variety of the same genetic makeup meant the entire harvest could be wiped out at once by disease or pests or changes in rainfall. I wanted to save the existing seed before it became extinct.

At the time I was also influenced by scientists warning that we needed to preserve the genetic diversity on which our food system depends.

Why is genetic diversity so important to you?Genetic diversity can be an abstract concept, but when folks see and taste tomatoes, peppers, beans and melons in every size, shape and colour, they understand. We have 3000 different tomatoes alone: red, green, purple, orange, gold, pink, white, black, striped and all sizes.

But it's about more than just a rainbow of fruits and vegetables...Genetic diversity also means protection from diseases, reliability for our food supply and insurance against the dangers of a commercial agriculture dominated by monoculture. And it means fostering a robust ecosystem. Seed Savers Exchange is about so much more than growing better tasting vegetables. It's also about gathering, saving and sharing the very things that connect us to the environment, and to each other.

What is your most memorable success?We thought we'd lost a variety of watermelon called "Moon and Stars". We had read about it, but couldn't find it in any gardening catalogues. Then an elderly gentleman in Macon, Missouri, heard our request on a local TV programme. He called and said he grew that melon each year as his father had done. We went over to his farm and came back with a car-load of melons. We saved the seeds, then sent them to all of our members to grow. Now it is listed in many seed catalogues.

Which seeds mean the most to you?I don't like to play favourites, but the seeds that I started the exchange with have a special place in my heart: Grandpa Ott's morning glory and German pink tomatoes. The tomatoes always remind me of my childhood when mom would serve them sliced, sprinkled with sugar.

This article appeared in print under the headline "Bank your edible heirlooms"

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Diane Ott Whealy began Seed Savers Exchange in 1975 to preserve agricultural biodiversity. The SSE in Decorah, Iowa, now sells more than 13,000 seed varieties, and just sent 340 of these to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway

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"When folks see and taste tomatoes, peppers, beans and melons in every size, shape and colour, they understand" (Image: Jim Richardson)